THIRD TIMES THE CHARM FOR LARKIN

He was at the time of his signing one of the bigger names to spurn the UFC for BELLATOR. But after smashing NEIL MAGNY in his last UFC performance he dropped his 1st two fights in his new home. He dropped a unanimous decision to Douglas Lima and then was KO’d by Paul Daley. Finally though; LORENZ LARKIN tasted victory again; compliments to a unanimous decision over FERNANDO GONZALEZ. Fernando who was on a 2 fight win streak missed weight for the 3rd straight time, which is a dangerous trend. In the ceremonial staredowns Fernando talked a lot of smack but Larkin just smiled. Lorenz came out sharp and crisp moving well side to side. The pair exchanged hard kicks with Gonzales staying in Larkin’s range. Fernando tried to walk Lorenz down but Larkin’s jab started finding a home. By midway through the 3rd round Lorenz was picking up the pace landing elbows and knees. Fernando got wobbled but never went down. A few more minutes though; he might have.

SAAD AWAD increased his win streak to 3 after winning a unanimous decision over JJ AMBROSE. Awad threw a complete attack early landing punches and kicks. Once JJ finally was able to get his legs under him in his Bellator debut he started to counter well. After they went rock em sock em for a while Saad took the fight to the mat. Where his grappling was a huge advantage. Saad’s strikes put a huge mouse under Ambrose’s right eye. They then exchanged takedowns but the damage had all been done. AL MATTHEWS ended his 4 fight losing streak; winning by split decision over KENDALL GROVE. AJ came out fierce and on fire with Grove countering okay. But he was definitely getting the short end of the stick to AJ in the exchanges. Matthews then altered his attack by starting to work Grove’s legs with kicks. The pair kept up an incredible pace till the final horn. Opening up the main card; JAKE SMITH had quite the impressive debut performance. STEVE KOZOLA, and him exchanged kicks and worked their way into trading strikes. Jake through a counter right that rocked Steve, then threw another one that dropped him. Jake went down with him, landing hammer strikes for the KO just 57 seconds into the fight.

The television portion of the undercard of BELLATOR 193 opened up with some history. For the 1st time in the company; a pair of brother fought on the same card. They also fought back to back, and they both picked up their 4th wins. The All American wrestling brothers both won by impressive unanimous decisions. TYREE FORTUNE bested MICHAEL QUINTERO in a fight that could have gone the other way. TYRELL FORTUNE after being accidentally kicked in the groin tore through JOE HERNANDEZ.